The
Covenant Community Trust serves not only as the instrument to
redistribute
lands and free them from debt, it also retains a legal interest on
behalf of the
land itself and the the biotic community upon it. When the trust deeds
lands to
individuals or families, it retains 50 percent ownership of the
land...although not
of buildings or other improvements...as trustee for the nonhuman
community upon the
tract. Each participating landholder prepares an annual conservation
and
production plan for review by the trust, and trust representatives
periodically
inspect landholdings. In cooperation with the colleges, the trust
provides
training for prospective landholders as well as continuing education
and field
support in ecology, conservation, forestry, animal health, and other
disciplines.
Where reclamation and restoration of a healthy ecosystem are
particularly
difficult, the trust may provide financial assistance to the
landholder. Under
agreement with each participating landholder, the trust receives 10
percent of
all agricultural sales destined for shipment outside the county. After
five
years' residence, landholders may sell their homes, lands, and other
facilities,
or portions of them, and may purchase additional lands, but the trust's
legal
interest in the natural vitality of these lands continues.

That
first parcel of lands offered to the trust by the insurance company
included
farmland of varying quality scattered throughout the county, plus
several town
and village properties. The trust decided to purchase those lands and
other
properties, regardless of their quality, that could form the basis for
rural
neighborhoods, plus properties in Central City near one college or the
other.
Four potential rural neighborhoods. Land was evaluated for its
reclamation
requirements and productive potential, and then it was subdivided into
small
farms that families might tend with simple machinery. Many of these
included an
existing house either on the land or in a nearby village, some of which
would
require substantial repair. Other homes and buildings acquired by the
trust were
designated for mechanics, tradespeople, and professionals who might
contribute to
the neighborhood culture and economy. When established county residents
who were
threatened with foreclosure asked for assistance, the trust attempted
to purchase
their farms for a fair price regardless of the location, assuring the
owners that
after retraining they might return to their former homestead. In the
case of a
few large farms, however, the trust insisted before purchase that it be
allowed
to subdivide portions for other homesteaders. When local people who had
previously lost their farms asked to join the Covenant Community, they
were given
preference, and a few were even reestablished on the land they had once
tilled.

The
trust advertised, both locally and in national journals, that rural
homesteads were available to those who were ready to commit themselves
to an
experimental community. All participants were required to spend a year
in
residence at Central College for orientation and training, and then
work a
five-year apprenticeship on the land before they received title to
their
property. Those having means paid for their training, land, and home as
they were
able, while others received training and homestead without cost. When
the popular
media picked up the news, applications flooded in. This enabled the
Covenant
Community, from the beginning, to select diverse and promising
participants.

Even
local residents who wished to participate were required to let their
farms
grow fallow for a year and to move with their families into the college
housing.
This requirement was resented at first, but it quickly proved a saving
grace for
the program. Men and women, many of them middle-aged, halted patterns
of work
that had become inflexible and began to think more seriously about
their lives
and their environment, while the opportunity for locals and newcomers
to get
acquainted on campus was indispensable preparation for the cooperation
they would
need to exhibit in the neighorhood communities to be developed.
Participants
shared a core curriculum on homesteading techniques, environmental
science,
community relations, practical economics, and biblical covenant ethics.
They also
chose among specialized courses in such practical fields as carpentry,
ironwork,
engine repair, forestry, plant genetics, animal husbandry, and
intensive
gardening, as well as liberal studies in religion, literature, the
arts, and
political science. Some participants arrived with specialized training
and
experience, while a few were able to study longer than a year before
taking up
their homestead. All learned that regular, continuing education would
be
important to their covenant commitment. By the end of each year a few
had dropped
out and a few more had to be screened out, but usually three-quarters
or more
were ready to affirm the covenant and take up their homesteads.